IMF trial lets 'Bamako' court outside issues

March 09, 2007|By Michael Phillips

'Bamako' *** 1/2

In life, putting the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on trial for crimes against Africa would prove difficult. On film, writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako makes it look easy. His premise suggests an earnest if peculiar piece of agitprop, but the results are calmly fascinating.

Much of "Bamako" unfolds as a trial, held in the courtyard of a neighborhood in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. This African nation, as well as others, has seen its basic social services cut and cut again while massive debts are repaid to other countries. Witness after witness takes the stand, recounting tales of poverty, homelessness and bone-deep resentment about jobs and lives lost.

If a poke in the eye of the IMF was all "Bamako" had in mind, the film would cancel itself out in 10 minutes. But Sissako brings to life the surrounding neighborhood, as its inhabitants listen in on the trial broadcast while they go about their daily tasks. The film features a cast of non-actors playing roles very close to their experiences. A singer (Aissa Maiga, amazing) struggles to keep her marriage to an unemployed man (Tiecoura Traore) together under duress. A freelance cameraman (Habib Dembele) talks of filming weddings and murder sites alike; it is his documentary footage, soundless but fully expressive, that concludes "Bamaka."

Sissako has an unusual camera eye, patient and alert to the ebb and flow of both the courtroom sequences and the outside scenes.

The music is wonderful as well, no more meaningful than when one elder witness, called to speak, utters not a word. Instead he sings a lament, and it's riveting. No subtitle accompanies this scene, and none is needed.

Running time: 1:58. In French and Bambara, with English subtitles. Opens Friday at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; 773-871-6604 or musicboxtheatre.com.